


Wonderland

by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Brain Damage, Character Study, Double Drabble, Fifteen Minute Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-09-24
Updated: 2004-09-24
Packaged: 2018-02-21 14:44:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2472026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/pseuds/Elizabeth%20Culmer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alice Longbottom in St. Mungo's.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wonderland

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by the 9/12/04 [15minuteficlets](http://15minuteficlets.livejournal.com) word #72.

She was lost in her own mind, thin and drawn with the residue of pain that would never leave no matter how many Healing potions she drank. She liked picture books, though, and listening to people sing. Some days she even seemed to recognize her husband as he lay in his stupor on the bed beside hers. But that only made her keen and wail until a Healer brought her something new to redirect her attention.

That was how they learned she liked bubblegum; a single piece could distract her from any distress. She unwrapped each piece with painstaking care, folded the paper into neat squares that she saved for her son, and chewed thoughtfully. She was a champion bubble-blower, spinning huge, gossamer spheres out of the gum. If she wasn't watched closely, though, she would wet her hands in the pitcher that stood constantly by her bedside, and hold the bubble in front of her face.

"Hollow," she said once, when one of the Healers tried to levitate a bubble away before it exploded in a sticky mess over her face and hair. "Hollow, hollow, hollow."

"Like me," was what she would have said, if she'd still known how.


End file.
